Southern League Division One football: Bashley FC earn valuable point in away game against Bristol Manor Farm
Southern League Division One
Bristol Manor Farm FC 0
Bashley FC 0
BASHLEY squeezed out another valuable away point on a cold, windy afternoon beside the River Avon north of Bristol against a side on the fringe of the play-off places.
It was one of only two matches able to be played in the division, and given the conditions, it was never going to be a classic, with genuine scoring chances scarce at both ends.
The Farm started with a no-nonsense approach. The first time Bashley attacked, Max Wilcock was brought down, and after six minutes, home captain Jamie Adams earned a yellow card for an overzealous tackle on Williams.
Two minutes later, Williams was clattered again, this time inside the penalty area, but the tackle by Oliver Woodhouse looked legitimate and was deemed as such by referee Cain Collins.
The Bashley back line looked disciplined, and five times in the first 20 minutes, they snared the opposition in an offside trap.
It was almost half an hour before Bashley raised a serious threat. Callum Baughan found room for a dangerous cross, which found Eddie Hodge, but Seth Locke pushed the winger’s goal-bound hit away for a corner.
That helped swing the momentum towards Bashley, and just before half-time, Ollie Cherrett’s men almost had the lead. A corner was only half-cleared, and when Jamie Johnston swung it back in, a huge scramble resulted in a classy save from Locke low down to his left.
Farm’s Mason Winter thought he would get the scoresheet ticking Farm’s way immediately after the break, but his long-range effort went high, wide and not-too-handsomely into the river behind that end.
The second half was becoming much more open, although the Farm continued to have better chances. Adams was finding too much room, and when substitute Ben Bament set him up for another run at the Bashley defence, his low cross was a fraction too far ahead of Dan Dodimead’s stretch.
Meanwhile, Bashley tried to freshen things up with a swop of teenagers, Colchester loanee Jamie Arnold replacing recent signing Jamie Johnston – then Lewis Ross came on to stiffen the midfield at the expense of Williams.
Bashley had been pressed back for a time, but they came to life again on 75 minutes when Luke Delaney popped up in space on the right, set free by Hodge, and fired in a dangerous cross, but nobody in green and white could get a vital toe on it.
After 84 minutes, the hosts went down to ten men, with Mason Winter getting a straight red card for a foul on the lively Wilcock – leaving a horrible scar on the Bashley man’s leg.
With so little time left, Bashley could not use the extra man and the game ended with honours. However, the draw underlined the team’s ability to eke out points away from home.
Bashley returns to action on Tuesday at home against Westbury United at 7.45pm before visiting Frome Town on Saturday at 3pm.
Bashley: R. Casey, C. Baughan, A. Rolls, S. Wright, J. Webber, B. Morris, L. Delaney, J. Johnston, E. Hodge, B. Williams, M. Wilcock. Subs: S. Steel, D. Thompson, C. Whiteley, J. Arnold, L. Ross.
